Today in History: September 17, aircraft crash kills a person for the first time

"Also on this date: In 1787, the Constitution of the United States was completed and signed by a majority of delegates attending the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. In 1862, more than 3,600 men were killed in the Civil War Battle of Antietam (an-TEE'-tum) in Maryland. In 1944, during World War II, Allied paratroopers launched Operation Market Garden, landing behind German lines in the Netherlands."

"In 1978, after 12 days of meetings at the U.S. presidential retreat of Camp David, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin (men-AH'-kem BAY'-gihn) signed the Camp David Accords, a framework for a peace treaty. In 1980, former Nicaraguan President Anastasio Somoza was assassinated in Paraguay. In 2001, six days after 9/11, stock prices nosedived but stopped short of collapse in an emotional, flag-waving reopening of Wall Street."

"In 2011, a demonstration calling itself Occupy Wall Street began in New York, prompting similar protests around the U.S. and the world. In 2021, a Los Angeles jury convicted New York real estate heir Robert Durst of killing his best friend 20 years earlier. (Durst, who was sentenced to life in prison, died in 2022.) Today's Birthdays: Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, is 92. Mountaineer-explorer Reinhold Messner is 81. Basketball Hall of Fame coach Phil Jackson is 80."

Sept. 17 features multiple significant events across U.S. and world history. The U.S. Constitution was completed and signed in Philadelphia in 1787. The Civil War Battle of Antietam in 1862 left more than 3,600 dead. In 1908 Lt. Thomas E. Selfridge became the first person to die in a powered aircraft crash when the Wright Flyer crashed at Fort Myer; Orville Wright survived with serious injuries. In 1944 Allied paratroopers launched Operation Market Garden. The Camp David Accords were signed in 1978. Later entries include the 1980 assassination of Anastasio Somoza, the 2001 Wall Street reopening after 9/11, the 2011 Occupy Wall Street protests, and a 2021 conviction of Robert Durst. The day also notes notable birthdays including Chuck Grassley, Reinhold Messner, Phil Jackson and Narendra Modi.

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